Gathering Place Named After Fairfield County's First Black Woman Physician Needs Infusion Of Cash

Fernando Luis Alvarez is an artist and gallerist. He has a roomy art space on Bedford Street, an upscale retail neighborhood in Stamford.

When he's not at the gallery, Alvarez has been spending time in another neighborhood in Stamford, the working-class West Side, at the Yerwood Center at Fairfield Avenue and Main Street, the site of an after-school program for disadvantaged kids.

The center serves dozens of children every school day, but has seen better days. Some windows are boarded up, floors are uneven, some restrooms are out of order and financial difficulties threaten day-to-day operations.

"The institution is failing. There's a lot at stake here," Alvarez said. "This woman's legacy has to be saved. If it [closes], there will be a new place to take kids, but her legacy will be lost."

He's referring to Joyce Yerwood, the first black female physician in Fairfield County, who founded the community gathering place in 1937.

In Yerwood's honor, the new exhibit at Alvarez's gallery is of his own work, and 50 percent of the proceeds from sales will go to the Yerwood Center.

"It's an important institution, historic. ... We want to turn it back into a community hub ... the diversity hub of Stamford." Alvarez said. "The money will take care of operating expenses, will pay the bills. Our goal is to keep existing, and to progressively enhance the center."

Alvarez is chairman of the board of directors of the Yerwood Center. A few months ago, after an acrimonious shake-up, he took over as interim executive director, a position that he says pays $1 a year. He said he wants to help the center get back on track and pass the leadership on to someone else.

The summer school is suspended this year, Alvarez said. The goal is to finish the school year and resume after-school programs as usual in the fall.

Joyce Carwin, Yerwood's granddaughter, spent many hours at the center as a child, as did her son. Carwin meets frequently with Alvarez to talk about her grandmother's legacy and her dreams for the center. She said concern for the future of the center keeps her in Stamford.

"It's one of the reasons I refuse to move from this area. I feel a strong tie to it. It's part of my family legacy," she said.

She welcomes Alvarez's leadership. "The first thing we need to do is focus on getting the community back involved, to focus on getting their trust," Carwin said. "People are losing focus on our own community."

Michael Pollard, chief of staff for the City of Stamford, said Alvarez's most important goal is to solidify new management. The city owns the building, and leases it to the Yerwood Center for a nominal fee each year.

"I applaud them," Pollard said. "They have been the only management group who has made a leadership attempt to reconstitute the organization."

The city has traditionally provided some funding for the center, and will again once the center can show effective management is in place, Pollard said.

Alvarez's "emergency exhibition," which will be up until June 22, is called "To Women, Interrupted," to reflect that Alvarez had planned to exhibit the work elsewhere but has been interrupted by his immediate concern for the center. The exhibit includes dozens of oil- and acrylic-on-canvas works featuring Alvarez's trademark image of female lips, which Alvarez believes represent the vital life force of women.

With Yerwood in mind, Alvarez said he hopes all the works are "gifted to, sold to, or sold in honor of a woman who embodies principle and strength."